Search Results for "Celtic"

Flogging Molly premiered their new music video today on Vevo. The track is titled “Reptiles (We Woke Up) and was directed by the band’s longtime friend Richie Smyth (U2, The Verve) whose unique animation style brings the provocative anthem to life on-screen. The track is from their latest album “Life Is Good”. Check the video out here.

Director Richie had this to say about the video:

“The idea for the video was to take Dave on a journey as he starts to transform in to a reptile. CGI was a cool way to do this. On the surface we see a literal visual rendition of the song like a ‘call to action’ as Dave gathers his army but underneath the surface it’s telling the story of Dave’s early days as a musician. The house he leaves at the start is the actual house he was born and raised in. I grew up with him and we would kick all the chains as we walked home from school. The beach is where we spent our youth. Then Molly Malone’s in Hollywood is where Dave and Bridget first met and the band was born. I shot Dave performing the song so the animators could track his movements onto the CGI character! It’s his actual performance.”

Flogging Molly will begin touring next month starting on October 12th. You can see the full list of dates below.

The Mahones are currently recording their 11th studio album in Toronto Their new lineup, which includes, Cait “Rocky” O’Riordan, formerly of The Pogues, and former member Scruffy Wallace, who has rejoined after 12 years with Dropkick Murphys, have been working on the album throughout the year

Celtic punk veterans The Real McKenzies are to play two short notice shows in Blackpool, UK tonight and tomorrow. The band will perform acoustically tonight, with a full band electric set tomorrow. Both shows are taking place at the Waterloo music bar.

Reggae artist Craiggae Shark recently teamed up with Boston’s Mickey Rickshaw to do a reggae version ofRancid‘s “Track Fast,” which comes from their latest album Trouble Maker. You can listen to this cool cover below.

Flogging Molly have released a lyric video for new track “Reptiles (We Woke Up)”. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming album “Life is Good”, out on June 2nd via Vanguard Records. Pre-orders are up now direct from the band’s website.

There are always those bands that you can count on to release variations of the same album over and over again. No matter how interesting it might be to hear artists try new instrumentation, it’s still comforting to know that when Bad Religion puts out a new album it will still sound like Bad Religion; It could be cool to see what happens when artists attempt genres outside of their wheelhouse, but it’s also just as cool to put on a new NOFX album and already feel like you’ve known the songs for years.

If you think I’m implying that 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory, the latest album by Dropkick Murphys (and allegedly their first of two albums to be released in 2017), sounds like everything else the band has done, it’s because I am implying that. But if you also think like I’m implying that 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory somehow deviates from the Murphys’ usual trends, it’s because I am also implying that. And the weirdest thing is that they’re both correct statements.

First and foremost, this is most definitely a Dropkick Murphys album. There are shout-along choruses, songs about brotherhood, being kicked down, or standing together in the face of violence and fear, traditional covers, and just enough bagpipe. Anyone who has stuck with the band over the past decade and a half is sure to be on board with this. The band knows their strengths and have been playing to them since at least 2001. The album’s first single, “Blood,” alongside “Rebels with a Cause” and “Sandlot” form a strong first third of the album, with plenty of that DKM charm (here are the choruses of all three, respectively: “If you want blood, we’ll give you some straight from the heart til the job is done”, “We believed in you, we knew it from the start- hey kid! You’ve got heart!” and “We had it all when we were young”).

The true standout on 11 Short Stories, however, is the penultimate track “4-15-13.” Written as a tribute to the people of Boston, the song is a somber reflection of the titular day’s bombings committed during the city’s annual marathon. Rather than focusing on the actual bombings, the song turns inwardly at all the people who make up Boston and how, despite their differences, they’re all still Bostonians and they’re all still in this together no matter what life throws at them.

And yet, for all of its familiarities that make it a Dropkick Murphys album, 11 Short Stories still somehow feels a little different. The production isn’t quite as glossy as The Meanest of Times but it’s still not exactly The Gang’s All Here quality either. And the covers, while present, are in short supply, and not exactly what you might expect from the band. “The Lonesome Boatman,” which kicks off the album, is beefed up from its tin whistle-led original and not too surprising, but the album’s other cover, rather than being a traditional Irish jaunt like the band’s usual style, is “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel (for the uninitiated, the song is often associated with football clubs around the world, which might give a better context for how the band became familiar with the song, although bassist/vocalist Ken Casey also went on record to say that he was inspired to cover the song after finding solace in the lyrics as he was leaving a wake for a friend who died of an opiate overdose). The filler tracks here range in quality- “I Had a Hat” is kind of nonsensical but it’s still a fun, uptempo punk romp, but “First Class Loser” doesn’t accomplish much except for come off as a mean-spirited joke, which is bizarre in the face of the album’s other songs about standing together. The album’s final track, “Until the Next Time” is the oddest departure of the bunch, coming off as more of a Broadway sing-along than the actual Broadway tune.

Despite all of the over-analyzation, 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory is really just one thing: a Dropkick Murphys album. And in the long run, that’s all it really needs to be.

For the last fifteen-or-so years, Massachusetts-based Celtic punk icons Dropkick Murphys playing a string of hometown shows has become as synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day as their musical forebears Mighty Mighty Bosstones doing a similar thing has been with Christmastime. As the band’s popularity has increased, so too has the size of venues at these St. Patrick’s weekend shenanigans, and the last two years have featured dates at the Agganis Arena, the state-of-the-art, 7200-capacity hockey rink located on the campus of Boston University. For many bands, the tendency on such a large stage might be to play “just the hits” in order to cater to the casual fans, but Dropkick Murphys, as it turns out, are not one of those bands. Say what you will about their level of “Tessie”/”Shipping Up To Boston”- inspired fame, but Dropkick Murphys have long been conscious or remembering the fans that’ve been there since the days when the clubs they played would fit within the confines of the stage of the Agganis (case in point: yours truly first saw the Dropkicks in August 1997, when they played in between the Mr. Rogers Project and The Pietasters at the Living Room in Providence).

A confetti cannon (seen above) and the instrumental “Lonesome Boatman” from the Dropkicks’ latest release 11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory (released January 6th on their own Born & Bred Records) introduced the band to the stage before they proceeded to launch into their 2007 hit “State Of Massachusetts.” If I can take a minute to inject myself into this story, here’s where I publicly apologize to Ken Casey & Company. I think it’s important to point out that I count myself as one of those hometown fans that’s been hypercritical (unfairly so) of the band over the last dozen post-“Tessie” years, though that’s strictly a musical critique; their tremendous fundraising and community work and their ongoing penchant for giving local bands a break is not only beyond reproach but is ultimately the stuff to which all bands should aspire. But I’ll tell you what…since the 90 minute set that began with the opening tenor banjo riff on “…Massachusetts,” yours truly has been not only back aboard the Good Ship Murphys, but more than a little embarrassed about having jumped off in the first place.

The setlist on this night, as on most nights, was pretty varied and all-encompassing. Sure 11 Short Stories… was well represented, but so too were earlier albums like Do Or Die, Blackout and The Warrior’s Code on songs like “Boys On The Docks,” “Time To Go,” and, of course, the latter album’s title track, which is a shoutout to local boxing legend “Irish” Micky Ward who was, of course, in attendance. What’s perhaps most impressive about a Dropkick Murphys set circa 2017, aside maybe from their ability to keep a crowd constantly fired up, is the level of sheer musicianship among the group’s core. Ken Casey is, by his own admission, not the world’s most astute bass player, but he’s also their unquestionable heart-and-soul. Drummer Matt Kelly and principle frontman Al Barr are about as quietly strong-up-the-middle as you’ll find. Like the band as a whole, the trio of Tim Brennan, Jeff DeRosa and Kevin Rheault (longtime tech who’s filling in for James Lynch on this run), however, don’t get nearly enough credit. At any given time, the three trade off between guitar, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki, tin whistle and keyboard duties, rarely manning the same battle station for more than two or three songs in a row. The seamless nature that things seem to run in that regard is really awesome, in the literal sense of the word.

Direct support on this night, as on the bulk of the month-long tour, came from The Interrupters. The ska punk quartet have been mighty busy over the last nine months or so since releasing their sophomore album, Say It Out Loud; since playing the duration of last year’s Warped Tour, they headlined full Europe and US tours of their own before heading back across the pond to open for Green Day immediately before this Dropkicks spot. It’s no secret that The Interrupters have been one of yours truly’s favorite bands to cover over the last few years, and performances like this particular one exemplify why, at least in part. The insanely talented (and yet somehow still wildly underrated) rhythm section of twin brothers Jesse (drums) and Justin (bass) Bivona keep the gas pedal floored, with Justin teaming with big brother Kevin (guitar, above) and frontwoman Aimee “Interrupter” as a three-headed ball of constant frenetic energy at the front of the stage. As Kevin mentioned when we caught up for an interview on these pages last year, the band are mindful that they’ve developed a sound product that definitely works, and if anything critical can be said of how they’ve made it work at the end of another long, successful tour run, it’s almost that they make it look TOO easy. (Oh, and they’re one of the only bands that can cover an Operation Ivy classic, “Sound System,” without sounding like a cheap, watered-down knockoff.)

Also opening this night (and most of the rest of the tour) was genuine Irish punk band Blood Or Whiskey. With all apologies to the Dublin-based sextet, a variety of communication mishaps between arena staff lead yours truly on a half-hour-long wild goose chase that resulted in me missing the entirety of their set, save for a song about frontman Dugs Mulhooly’s favorite pub back home closing down, only to be replaced by a coffee shop. Sorry lads…we’ll catch you next time around, we promise.

Head below for our full photo gallery from the Interrupters and Dropkick Murphys sets. And a special thanks to my much younger brother from another mother Nick Gold for the assist. Good on ya, bud.

Windy City Celtic punkers Flatfoot 56 have returned with a new album, out via Sailor’s Grave Records on April 28th. But we got a guy and this time, he hooked us up with something even better than a track to premiere. Today, in celebration of St. Patty’s Day, the boys sent us the first music video from the LP, exclusively for ye lads and lasses!

“Stutter” is the second track from the twelve track LP Odd Boat (pre-order here), which was produced by Matt Allison at Atlas studios in the band’s hometown of Chicago. When asked about the premiere, frontman/guitarist Tobin Bawinkel said “It’s a song about having tenacity and grit when the world seems to pile up on you. We hope you enjoy it! Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! ” Check it out, along with tour dates/stops, below!

Flogging Molly have announced a new tour of the US to continue the support for their upcoming album, Life is Good. The tour will be kicking off in Oakland, CA on May 4th. The White Buffalo are to be the supporting band. Tickets will go on sale Friday March 17th at 10:00 A.M. PST.

Flogging Molly’s long awaited new album Life is Good is out on June 2nd via Vanguard Records. Fans will be excited to know that every ticket order (in select markets) will include a digital download of the new album upon release.

Recorded in Dublin, Ireland, Life is Good marks Flogging Molly’s first studio album in six years since 2011’s Speed of Darkness.

Celtic punks Flatfoot 56 are streaming another track from their upcoming “Odd Boat” album. Following the release of first single “Penny” last month, the band are now streaming “Curtains”. You can listen to the track below.

Band Spotlight

If you haven't heard of Hillview yet, they're a new melodic punk band from Los Angeles featuring Ten Foot Pole bassist Chris Del Rio and Eddie Carrasco of Union 13. They recently released three brand new songs titled "Find the Way", "Pictures of You", and "No One Else to Blame".
The band describes their sound as "Hard hitting. In your face. Melodic Punk", and these songs definitely deliver on that promise. Think a little heavier, faster Ten Foot Pole... I recommend giving all three tracks a listen here.